She just doesn't listen

Hi. Long time.

I must vent because this is getting out of control.

Mom picks me up from school every day around 5:45. I emailed her an article once that said toddlers really should go to bed around 6:00. Maybe it's in her spam folder. Whatever the reason, it ain't happening in the Davidow house. So it's not my fault that most days I have to have a tantrum from the moment we walk out of the classroom to many moments after we walk in our front door. I'm tired. I work hard all day.

Yesterday was okay. I was holding it together pretty good and made it all the way to our parking garage without incident. There were two places to park, one right across from the other. Mom started to go to the one to the left. I politely suggested she go to the one to the right. I heard her saying under her breath (she thinks I can't hear her but I can) that the spot on the left was too tight. Not sure what that means. Pants are too tight. I get that. But a spot? Anyway, here's the amazing thing. She said, "Andrew, would you like me to park in that spot?" and she pointed to the one on the right. "Yeah," I said. "Okay," she said, and she backed out of the one on the left where we were half in and half out.

Then I changed my mind. Only I might have forgotten to tell Mom.

Then Mom started to pull in to the spot on the right. "No," I said, "the other one." No reaction. "NO," I said, "THE OTHER ONE." Still nothing. Mom needs to get her hearing checked. "MOM," I said, with some ooomph this time. "MOM, ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME? I SAID GO TO THE OTHER ONE AND YOU ARE NOT DOING IT AND YOU ARE CAUSING ME GREAT DISTRESS AND JUST GO BACK TO THE OTHER $!*&ING SPOT ALREADY AND OH MY GOD YOU'RE SERIOUSLY GOING TO PARK HERE, AREN'T YOU."

It's possible I might not have phrased it exactly like that. It might have been just violent screaming accompanied by some accusatory finger-pointing back to the other spot. Hard to say.

She turned off the car and told me she understood I was sad but sometimes life goes that way. I didn't think she was taking me seriously enough so I yelled some more. She then bodily removed me from my carseat, which is not how I would have handled the situation.

I was busy screaming and choking on my own snot when some 50something guy driving a Benz came over and said, "Hey! It'll be okay!" Ohhhhhh, that looks could kill.

Some people came out with a baby in a stroller. That was cool. They were parked right next to the good spot. They got in their car. I watched them get in and back out. I had fun. I decided to stop crying because I couldn't hear what they were saying.

As soon as they left, I started reliving the trauma so I started up again. Eventually, I rallied somehow and forgave Mom and then took off running to the house. I wasn't sure if she noticed, so I kept yelling, "Davidow running! Davidow running!" Grandma and Grandpa came over later. I was mostly okay but still pissed deep down.

I had a good sleep, played with my truck, got dressed while watching DVR'd Sarah McLachlan on The Tonight Show for the 130th time since Saturday, then went to the car. In the bad spot. The good spot was still empty. So I burst into tears and fell to the ground and stayed there for 5 minutes.

I bet she'll listen next time.